163 A. 571 | Vt. | 1933
Acting on a "tip" that the respondent was on the road with intoxicating liquor in his car, the chief of police of the city of St. Albans went to a place outside that city and waited for him. When his car approached, the officer stopped it; and, without a warrant or other precept, he searched the car and found a small bottle of liquor in it. Then, noticing a bulging of the respondent's coat, he searched him and found and seized several bottles of liquor that were in the pockets of his clothing. Thereupon, he arrested the respondent and a complaint was brought against him for unlawful possession and unlawful transportation. At the trial in the city court of St. Albans, the respondent was convicted and sentenced. He excepted.
The principal question in the case is raised by the exception saved when the court admitted in evidence the liquor found on the respondent's person. For the purposes of this discussion, we assume, as the respondent contends, that the search of the respondent was in violation of the protection afforded him by our Bill of Rights, Art. 11, which declares that "the *57
people have a right to hold themselves, their houses, papers and possessions, free from search and seizure." This assumption strips the officer of all legal justification and stamps his search and seizure as illegal from the beginning. Such illegal acts are not and cannot be legalized by what is found, though it be contraband. Burnett v. State,
But this does not put the trial court in error. The evidence was admissible. This rule has been so many times applied by this Court, and has been so recently considered and approved, that we are not at all inclined to change it. At the very last term of this Court, in State v. Stacy,
There is nothing further to be considered. The only other point briefed by the respondent relates to the method of obtaining the information on which the officer acted, but inasmuch as we have assumed that he acted unlawfully, any error in the exclusion of the evidence was harmless.
Judgment that there is no error in the record and that therespondent takes nothing by his exceptions. Let execution bedone. *58